Filipino Friends of Labor Blacktown Community Launch

With Ed Husic, Member for Chifley, Michelle Rowland, Member for Greenway, Bobby Lastica, Filipino Friends of Labor (FFoL) Convenor, and Tess Sayas, a member of the FFoL Working Party, on August 26, 2012 (Photograph: Adelina Jackson)

Yesterday, August 26, I was invited to speak at the Western Sydney launch of the Filipino Friends of Labor.

The Filipino Friends of Labor network formalises the enduring relationship between the Filipino-Australian community and the Labor Party. The group will help ensure closer engagement between the community and the Party, and, importantly, will assist in communicating key community issues to the political sphere.

Below is a transcript of my speech:

Pleased to be here today to launch the Filipino Friends of Labor.

Thanks to Bobby Lastica, Convenor of the group, for inviting me.

Coming from the first democracy in Asia, Filipinos have freedom in their blood. They are vigilant of their rights, and understand and fulfil their obligations as a matter of honour.

I’m informed by my staffer who lived in Manila that Filipinos are adaptable, hardworking, resilient and consummate public speakers.

In other words, perfect Labor Party branch members.

Filipinos live all across Australia, with the largest concentrations here in NSW and in Victoria.

They are ready to be useful members of their adopted country and have an enthusiastic attitude for work.

And you are making a great contribution to Australia’s economy and society in all walks of life, especially as nurses, welders, and motor mechanics, accountants, software programmers.

When I was NSW Premier and visiting hospitals around this State, I would often hear the unmistakable Filipino accent in ward corridors.

Australia and the Philippines have been firm friends throughout history. Our people to people links are deep.

Australians fought alongside Filipino and American soldiers to liberate the Philippines from Japanese rule in WWII

In the 1950s, Filipinos came to Australia to study under the Colombo Plan and stayed

Between the 1960s and 1990s, Filipinos were one of the fastest growing immigrant communities in Australia, and today, more than 4,000 Filipino students study at Australian universities.

It was a tragedy to see severe floods ravage Luzon, especially Metro Manila, earlier this month. 118 people were killed. 200,000 were still in evacuation centres a few days ago. Work and school was suspended. Families were stranded without a roof over their heads for weeks.

Australia was ready to help our Filipino friends in need.

We gave $2 million in emergency aid for flood victims including rice, water containers, hygiene kits, medical supplies and mosquito nets. Our Ambassador in Manila spoke with Foreign Secretary Del Rosario to express our support.

We worked through the Philippines Red Cross and the World Food Programme so items were available immediately to flood victims.

We are also helping the Philippines to better prepare for disasters. So that when disaster does strike- and we all know the Philippines is prone to it- the impact will be less.

But it’s not only on disaster relief that Australia and the Philippines work closely together.

Our development cooperation is achieving a lot:

• we helped two million children access better quality education in severely disadvantaged provinces since 2007;
• we contributed to a 92 per cent decrease in malaria deaths, and an increase in malaria-free provinces from 16 to 22;
• our support for construction of warehouses and crop storage facilities improved the livelihoods of more than 9000 people from 278 conflict-affected communities in Mindanao; and
• our contribution to eradicate foot and mouth disease has improved livestock productivity and provided producers with access to new export markets.

Last year marked the 65th anniversary of Australia-Philippines diplomatic relations. In addition to development cooperation, we work together on defence, policing, transport, trade and agricultural research.

The Aquino Administration’s active reform agenda is an opportunity to deepen our cooperation. I will meet with President Aquino when he visits Australia in October.

Defence links between our two countries are strong.

Trade and investment links are growing, with key Australian interests in mining, oil and gas.

And Australia and the Philippines work side-by-side in regional groupings like EAS, APEC and UN institutions to make our region and the world a more prosperous and safe place.

I congratulate you on the launch of the Filipino Friends of Labor and wish you all the very best.

Mabuhay!

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

Related

Dear Mr Carr,
As a citizen of this free and democratic country, I feel very concerned about the apartheid crisis in Palestine at the moment. I was wondering what Australia is doing right now to end Israel’s occupation and oppression over the Palestinian people. I assume nothing, and more likely just a following in the footsteps of the US. Oh please let my assumption be wrong, but one cannot help but feel this pessimisntic way.
I am aware that you visited Palestine this month. How much of the daily suffering in the lives of Palestinians did you witness?
The situation seems to have gone beyond ‘peaceful negotiations’ – this phrase is just a synonym for more oppression in the name of negotiations.

I would love to hear from you and be assured that Australia is not playing a key role in aiding Israel’s occupation and slowly seeking to wipe an entire peoiple group off of their native homeland.

Comments are closed.

Book review – Wilson by A. Scott Berg

The entrenched view of Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States from 1913-1921, is that he was a prophet who wanted to make the world safe for democracy, his vision repudiated by a war-weary American people.
I have a different view. I believe Woodrow Wilson was incontestably the worst president in US history. The worst, because the damage he did outweighs that of any other. This includes George W. Bush, who in response to September 11 started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Click here to read my review of A. Scott Berg's Wilson (2013).

Mabo (2012)

Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.